ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters: Cilic halts Murray’s winning streak

2014 US Open champion downs world number two in straight sets

CINCINNATI: Former US Open champ Marin Cilic snapped Andy Murray’s 22-match win streak on Sunday to claim his first ATP Masters 1000 title with a 6-4, 7-5 win at the Cincinnati tournament.

The 94-minute victory for the 27-year-old Croatian marked a career breakthrough as he earned his first Masters title on his 71st career attempt.

“This week is going to be remembered, it’s really, really something special,” said Cilic, who had seven aces and broke Murray three times. “I look forward to the US Open in a couple of weeks. I hope we can continue with good form.”



Murray has been on a tear this season, winning grass titles at Queen’s and Wimbledon before triumphing a week ago over Juan Martin del Potro at the Olympic final.

But the accumulation of tennis finally proved to be too much for the Scot, who played his 14th match in 15 days dating back to the Games.

Cilic’s win was his third against 11 losses to Murray. He is the lowest-ranked Cincinnati champion since number 17 Carlos Moya in 2002.



Kerber loses second final in one week

Olympic silver medallist Angelique Kerber lost to Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-1 in the women’s final of the joint WTA-ATP tournament.

The defeat ended Kerber’s chances of replacing Serena Williams as the number one ranked player in the world.

It was the German’s second defeat in a final in just over a week after losing to Monica Puig in the gold medal Rio match.

Pliskova, who now owns seven career titles and stands 3-4 against Kerber, claimed the opening set in 32 minutes and needed 62 minutes in total to complete her role as spoiler.

Pliskova is the first Czech to win the Cincinnati trophy. She finished with seven aces and five breaks of Kerber.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2016.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.